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Unleash your inner wordsmith at this years Manchester Literature Festival

Published on October 5th 2007.

Manchester Literature Festival has an exciting and diverse programme for October 2007. Now in its second year, the Festival presents high quality live literature through a range of events that celebrate the power of writing across all creative and technological media. In a city renowned for its ‘firsts’, the Festival’s cutting-edge programme continues to push the boundaries of what is traditionally understood to be a literary event. Across 11 days, activity will take place all over the city in both traditional and unconventional venues with a line up of national and international authors and poets.

Friday 5 OctoberThe Manchester Museum in the Prehistoric Life Gallery

Manchester Literature Festival in association with Literature North West present Independents Day.In the late 1980's the Madchester Indie music scene made Manchester the city young people flocked to. In more recent times it has become home to a flourishing network of independent publishers and new media producers, harnessing the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of the city's diverse and ever-evolving population. Independents Day is a celebration of that spirit. Whether you are a writer, a publisher or a fan of cutting-edge contemporary literature, we welcome you to:

Meet the editors of some of the UK's most innovative small presses and magazines, including representatives of Comma, Route, Templar, Suitcase, Transmission and Matter.

From print on demand to fiction blogs to hand-crafted books and poetry jukeboxes, discover imaginative and viable ways to publish and disseminate work in our Alternative Publishing Seminar.

Join the Impress Debate chaired by the writer and critic, DJ Taylor to discuss whether independent presses are providing an exciting alternative to the profit-led mainstream publishing houses and whether it's possible to be truly independent and also reliant on public subsidy.

And if you want to take time out there'll be plenty of opportunity for browsing the indie book market, networking in the bar or simply taking in the impressive surroundings of the Lowry and canal side area.

Monday 8 October Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama from 6pm

Manchester Literature Festival and the Centre for New Writing present A Taste of New Zealand. This triple bill event is sure to wet your appetite for New Zealand Literature. Bill Manhire was New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate and is the author of many volumes of poetry including the recent Lifted, a volume full of richness and courage and surprise, containing poems which turn from grief to curiosity. Anna Smaill is the author of the observant Violinist in Spring, a volume infused with an intrinsic knowledge of music. At once lyrical and acute, her poems are among the best of young, contemporary New Zealand. Carl Shuker created waves with his first novel, The Method Actors, described as 'Lost in Translation for the noir crowd'. His second novel, The Lazy Boys, is no less audacious in tone and style – a nihilistic tale of a brutal drop-out, desperate to escape his middle-class background.

Thursday 11 October John Rylands Library from 7pm

Taking up his role as Poet Laureate in 1999, Andrew Motion stated that he “would like to see poets associated with all sort of surprising places, everywhere from zoos to football clubs”. In taking poetry into the community, wherever it might lurk, his mission does not neglect that old, familiar haunt of the Library and so Motion will give the 4th Rylands Poetry Reading.

Thursday 11th October Urbis at 6pm, 7pm, 8pm or 9pm (performance lasts for one hour, please indicate which time you would like to attend)

Urbis and the Manchester Literature Festival present the winners of our national Urban Myths micro-fiction competition in a unique live art and installation performance throughout Urbis. These chilling and witty tales of what happens in the dark alleys and night clubs of our towns and cities have been interpreted by students from the Interactive Arts Degree at MMU and will be produced in a range of media including performance, film, photography, sculpture, installation and on-line. The audience will be led around the Urbis building as darkness falls…. and the Urban Myths are re-told.

Friday 12 OctoberFriends Meeting House at 7.30pm

Saturday 13 October Whitworth Art Gallery at 4.30pm Joint tickets for the Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright & Maggie O’Farrell events, including a complimentary glass of wine, can be purchased at the special price of £10 or £6 concessions.

Roddy Doyle is the author of several prize-winning and ground-breaking novels including The Commitments, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The Woman who Walked into Doors and Paula Spencer. In his first ever collection of short stories, The Deportees, Doyle gives new insight into the immigrant experience, reflecting the rapid changes in Irish society in recent years. Concerned with the increasing number of racist stories about the new immigrant population, Doyle decided to make up a few stories of his own. All of them have one thing in common: someone born in Ireland meets someone who has come to live there. What ensues involves love, and horror; excitement and exploitation; friendship and misunderstanding. Anne Enright and Maggie O'Farrell have written novels of grace and power which grapple unflinchingly with modern concepts of family and isolation. Anne Enright 's collection of stories, The Portable Virgin, won the Rooney Prize, and her novel, What Are You Like? was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award and won the Encore Award. Her latest novel, The Gathering injects fresh blood through the Irish literary tradition, combining the lyricism of the old with the shock of the new. Whitworth Art Gallery at 6.30pm

Sunday 14 October Frog & Bucket at 7pm

We will be signing off this year’s festival with a fun packed evening hosted by Sally Lindsay (Coronation Street's Shelley Unwin). The event will feature special guest appearances from well known local wits Alfie Joey & Sarah Millican, and our inaugural Comedy Poetry Slam, in which local poets will be competing for Manchester’s Funniest Bard Award. Local talent scouts will be listening out to the audience clapometer and the brightest stars will be booked for future gigs in the city’s top performance venues.